INTERVIEW: Olive Vox x Social Casualty
by Lilli Newhouse & Ashlyn Siples | October 24th , 2025
Photo by Jaxon Whittington
Hailing from Texas, Olive Vox is an alt-rock quartet filled with electric chemistry. Consisting of brothers Parker James [vocals] and Caden Shea [guitar], Dayton Phillips [drums], and Ben Reid [bass], this band is a burst of energy popping up in your social media feed, live shows, and in the studio. They combine punk roots with melodic hard rock, bringing up a new era of grunge into the modern-day music scene for the latest generation of alternative rock listeners. The band blends a large variety of inspirations into their sound, including Nine Inch Nails, The Smashing Pumpkins, Turnstile, Arctic Monkeys, and more, which means there’s definitely going to be a song that resonates with you. Read on into our interview with the band to learn more about who they are and what they’re all about, and just maybe they’ll become your next favorite band.
How did your journey into music begin?
We were raised around music from a very young age and introduced to lots of different music very early on. All of us took lots of interest and that blossomed into where we are now, we’re lucky to have found each-other and to be sharing that same dream.
Who were your biggest musical influences growing up?
Lots of alternative 90s music mixed in with modern era alternative with bands like Cage The Elephant, Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Turnstile, the list goes on forever.
What’s the story behind your artist name?
When we recorded our first ever batch of songs we noticed that the talk-back button on our mixers said “Vox” (Latin for voice) and ended up pairing that with the word “Olive” (Universal sign of peace) “Speak Peace” is the meaning of Olive Vox. Though truly Parker just likes eating olives, so it just happened to work out that way.
Where do you usually draw inspiration from—musically or personally?
I think we seek inspiration through searching. Whether that be in music or the world around us, but in a personal sense you just have to connect your music to what you’re feeling. Anything we feel emotionally is what we put into our songs, there’s no rhyme or reason to it. It’s a gut thing.
What do you hope people feel when they listen to your music?
Anything at all, Happy or Sad. If we can be a soundtrack to where people are at any moment, that's enough for us. If someone can apply the music to their situation no matter what it is, that’s enough for us. We’d like to elevate moments for people if we could.
What’s the best piece of advice you've gotten in your career?
The songs come first always. The songs need to be great in our eyes. Everything else won’t matter to us if that is lacking. Also you’re not business partners, your friends. Don’t ever forget that.
If your music were a movie, what would the plot be?
4 emotional white boys form a band. Where will it take them?
What’s coming next for you?
Touring! We’re ready to play these songs live more than ever, and reach a new audience in the process. Along with that, we’re continuing to release everything we’ve been working on. Very exciting stuff.
How do you deal with creative blocks?
Waiting patiently. I think a lot of creative people tend to get impatient trying to find the next idea and overthinking as to why they can’t muster up anything. It starts to come from a place of desperation rather than inspiration. Let go, seek inspiration, it will appear in front of you before you know it.
What’s a risk you’ve taken creatively that paid off?
Letting go of what other people think, or what they will think. Crafting the song to satisfy you and only you. Everyone will get it later. That’s something we’ve collectively changed within our process. It 100% pays off in every avenue.
How do you know when a song or project is finished?
When it feels right. When we’re all calm and content with what we’re hearing. (As a whole) Until then, we perfect and perfect until everyone is equally happy. That’s the toughest part at times.
Who would be your dream collaboration, dead or alive?
There’s so many so we’ll give 3. Turnstile, Fontaines DC, or Cage The Elephant as of now. Our favs.
T.A.N.G.O.
“Tango came together super last minute, Caden went over to Parker’s apartment and they put together the chorus in a blink, shelved it, and forgot about it. A couple months later the EP was short a song and we rediscovered it through voice memos." - Ben Reid
"Caden, Ben, and Dayton sat down to fully flesh out a potential addition and the song came together from there”. - Parker James
